Royle Family star is made an MBE

Veteran actress Liz Smith, who played Nana in the Royle Family, has been appointed an MBE.

As the 87-year-old received the honour from the Prince of Wales, he said her TV family - famed for being lazy - was "nothing like my family, thank God".

Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant was also at Buckingham Palace to be made a CBE.

The musician said it was "humbling" to take part in the ceremony alongside "very selfless" military heroes.

'Nonsense'

"The diversity of people who have moved through here this morning prove there is no real establishment here," he said.

He said he owed "everything to the musicians I work with".

"From the UK to Africa to Tennessee, it is their brilliance that I bounce off. Alone I'm nothing."

Last year the musician chose not to take part in a Led Zeppelin reunion tour.

Instead he decided to concentrate on his collaboration with American bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.

When asked if he plans to take to the stage with his old band-mates, he said: "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense."

He also joked that he and former Zeppelin band-mate Jimmy Page - who has an OBE - are unlikely to be fighting over rank.

"If we can remember each other's phone number at this time in life, it's a miracle.

"We're still good friends, we both enjoy a rather dark sense of humour that comes, I think, from being from rather the wrong side of the tracks for all those wild years."

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
BBC Comedy - The Royle Family
Robert Plant
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